FUREE to New D'town BK Partnership Prez: It's Time for Fair Development!

The following is critical background information regarding the recently announced appointment of Tucker Reed as new President of the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership (DBP):

1/17/12 update: This letter from FUREE was hand-delivered to Mr. Reed.

Since Bloomberg created the DBP, FUREE has worked to hold the quasi-public organization accountable for its role in orchestrating a luxury-oriented development model that has favored big property owners over other community stakeholders facing displacement.

In addition to holding our "Where the Jobs At?" action over the summer that targeted the DBP, FUREE also partnered up with Occupy Wall St. demonstrators to lead a "March to Evict Corporate Greed" from Downtown Brooklyn, that highlighted the DBP's top-down approach to development that often prioritizes profits over maximizing community benefits.

Earlier this fall, when we learned of the departure of Joe Chan, the controversial former head of the DBP, we sent a letter to the DBP's Board of Directors calling on them to incorporate community participation into the search process for its new president.  This letter was signed by Senator Velmanette Montgomery, Assembly Members Hakeem Jeffries and Joseph Lentol, and Council Member Letitia James.

The DBP responded to our joint letter with a statement that our members remarked was "a slap in the face" and "disrespectful to our community and its elected representatives" for not dignifying us with any meaningful answers to the requests we had made.

It was just announced that Tucker Reed will head the quasi-public organization (see Brooklyn Paper and The Patch).

In her recently published Op-Ed in the Brooklyn Daily, FUREE board president Maisha Morales remarks, "Welcome to the neighborhood Tucker.  This is your chance to shift course and advance a more participatory and inclusive style of development.  We look forward to meeting with you."

While FUREE is disappointed that the DBP shut out the community in the process that led to Mr. Reed's appointment, we do not hold him responsible for the sins of his predecessors.  This is his chance to make a name for himself as the person who reached out to groups like FUREE and worked to promote a Downtown Brooklyn with greater affordable housing, good jobs, protections for small businesses, and genuine community input in decision-making.